NCAA Tournament, Elite Eight: Stunned

Stunned.

That is the one word I will use to describe last night's game between Ohio State and Witchita State, and I think it is fitting.

I think we've all grown tired of hearing that other word that CBS/TNT analysts have often used, especially if you happen to be an Ohio State fan like myself.

No, I'm stunned. Stunned that not only would two of the team's best players (Aaron Craft and Deshaun Thomas) have their worst shooting games of the season on the same night, but, for 31 minutes, it also seemed that Ohio State wanted victory less than Witchita State did.

Seriously, for about three fourths of the game, instead of Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas, it felt like Thad Matta's Nightmare Before Easter. The team kept missing shot after shot, taking ill-advised three after three. And, to make matters worse, whenever Witchita State would miss, there was nary an Ohio State defender around to even challenge for the rebound.

About five minutes into the second half of last night's contest, I received a text message stating that Aaron Craft was the most overrated player in the country (from a fellow OSU fan, no less). Having committed 3 fouls, 3 turnovers, and on the worst shooting performance of the night, he might have been right. The really sad part is that, despite having more turnovers than assists and steals combined at that point, Craft's on the ball defense of the Witchita State point guard was absolutely horrendous.

At the 15 minute mark, with the Buckeyes down  22, 55-33, I should have just walked away and chalked it up as another loss. Then, with about 9 minutes and 30 seconds left, things started to change. Sophomore LaQuinton Ross would come off the bench to hit some timely threes. The Buckeyes would soon clamp up on defense, hitting the glass too, chipping away at the lead. And with some key free-throw shooting, they had cut the Shockers lead to 4 with just over two minutes to play.

Would the miracle run for Ohio State continue? Unfortunately, no. But Ohio State fans shouldn't be disappointed with their finish this season, even if a loss to the West Region's no. 9 seed wasn't the way they wanted to go out. After all, they did make it deeper into the tournament (the Elite Eight) than three of the four 1 seeds, and all but one of the other 2 seeds (Duke still plays Louisville this afternoon).

And guys like LaQuinton Ross have given fans something to look forward to next season. If junior (that's right Mr. Elmore, I said junior) forward Thomas returns for another year, expectations will be even greater.

But that is still several weeks away. Last night, once again, I ran the gamut of emotions (anger, elation, and then melancholy) that has become the signature of March Madness. And, while in the heat of the moment I had decided I would not talk to anyone about the game or my brackets anymore, this morning I have calmed down. After all, it is only a game.

Want to know something else? Even though all of my brackets are busted and I don't have a dog in the fight, I may actually cheer for Big Ten rival Michigan tonight(whose gone mad now? ha ha). That is of course, as long as Duke beats Louisville.

Ohio State Basketball: Are They Tournament Ready?

With two games left in the 2012-2013 regular season, and the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments around the corner, opinions on the Ohio State men's basketball team are as varied as which four schools should get No. 1 seeds to the Big Dance.

Truth of the matter is the Buckeyes have no legitimate scoring threat beyond Deshaun Thomas. That flaw has been painstakingly apparent in each of OSU's five Big Ten losses this season, most notably in blowout defeats on the road to Wisconsin and Illinois. Thomas accounted for approximately 40% of the Buckeyes scoring in both of those losses.

That is not to say Thomas himself doesn't have serious flaws. The junior foward-guard forces way too many shots, and his accuracy from beyond 17 feet needs some work. Not to mention that, defensively, he plays a little too much of the 'ole' (pronounced O-lay) defense.

But I digress. After 28 games, what type of team is Ohio State? Their  head coach, Thad Matta, is routinely criticized, more often than not for his reluctance to make in-game adjustments. Two of their more ballyhooed sophomores, Laquinton Ross and Amir Williams, have not lived up to expectations. And they have let teams such as Purdue and Northwestern hang with them despite having a clear advantage in talent.

Yet, at the end of the day, this team may be poised to make a huge run come NCAA tournament time. For starters, they are in the thick of the Big Ten race despite Thomas being the only scoring threat, in large part due to the suffocating defense that Matta employs. This was never more evident than in the last game at Northwestern, where the Buckeyes won despite shooting a dismal 41.9% from the field. The Buckeyes are led on the defensive end by point guard Aaron Craft, but sophomore guards Sam Thompson and Shannon Scott have also stepped up their games on that end.

So the Buckeyes have flaws, but so does every other team in the nation this year. Which is why the NCAA tournament should be really fun to watch.

Ohio State Basketball: Amir Williams, LaQuinton Ross are X Factors for the Buckeyes

As the Ohio State University men's basketball team is still reeling from last night's 76-74  overtime loss to Michigan in Ann Arbor, there are still some unanswered questions.

Chief among them is why head coach Thad Matta refused to call timeout with a little more than seven seconds left in overtime, leaving the potential tying basket to chance rather than a set play. Instead, Matta trusted that his team would be able to catch the Wolverines off guard, and that the Buckeyes would live to play one more overtime. The game would end, however, when junior point guard Aaron Craft 's layup was blocked by Michigan guard Tim Hardaway, Jr.

Yet, despite the fact that the Buckeyes lost their third Big Ten game of the 2012-2013 season, there is a silver lining to last night's loss. First of all, Ohio State took the Wolverines best shot, on the road, and went toe to toe with the No. 3 team in the nation before falling to them in overtime. That in itself speaks volumes for a team that, only a month ago, was blown out by Illinois when two met in Assembly Hall.

More importantly, however, for the Buckeyes might be that sophomores Amir Williams and LaQuinton Ross may finally be living up to the hype that surrounded them as freshmen last year. Ross, a 6-9 swingman from Mississippi, scored 16 points for Ohio State last night on 7-10 shooting, including a perfect 2-2 from three point range. Williams added nine points but, more importantly, had four blocked shots on the defensive end.

These two couldn't have picked a better night to have what was by far the best game of their careers at Ohio State. Ross is still averaging only 8 points per game over the last five Big Ten contests, yet he has steadily seen his minutes increase since the last time Ohio State played Michigan (in Columbus). If he continues to shoot as well he did last night, it won't be long before he's averaging double digits.

And while no one expected Amir Williams to duplicate Jared Sullinger's numbers on the offensive side of the ball, his progression on the defensive side of the ball( he's averaging three blocks per game in his last five games) has to be music to the ears of Buckeyes' fans who felt the center from Detroit would be this year's version of Anthony Davis. Now if coach Matta can only get him to rebound the ball a little better.

But I digress. The point of the matter being, as Ohio State marches toward the NCAA tournament, Amir Williams and Laquinton Ross's improvements over the last several games mean the Buckeyes should no longer be an easy out. Ross is finally starting to come around as the Bucks' scoring alternative to forward Deshaun Thomas. And Williams seems quite content to be a game changer on the defensive end. With this year's tournament field being as weak as it is, it wouldn't be a surprise at all to see Ohio State once again playing on the final weekend.

OSU Basketball: Thad Matta's Championship Problem

Well, with only a few more weeks left 'til the end of the college football season, I thought I'd take this opportunity to share my thoughts on The Ohio State University men's basketball team. I understand that many of you prefer football to basketball anyway, but I don't care.

So as I was listening to the Buckeye cagers' only exhibition game versus Walsh last night (yeah, it wasn't on TV because the Big Ten Network is so lame they would rather show a rerun of a football game played last weekend) it got me excited about the team's chances this season. Sure, when they play for real a week from tomorrow against Marquette they will look nowhere near the No. 4 team in the nation, but they do have talent.

That got me to thinking, the Buckeyes have had an awful lot of talent come through their program the last few years, but, ultimately, they have come up short in their quest for a national championship. Last season they came oh so close to getting an opportunity to be bested by the Kentucky Wildcats once again, only to fall to the Kansas Jayhawks in the national semifinal.

On the surface, the loss to Kansas can be easily explained, as in the end Ohio State had neither the height nor the depth needed to move on to the national championship game.

But why does Ohio State, seemingly advancing farther in the tournament each season, fall short of the ultimate goal each year?

On the one hand, there are those who would point the finger directly at head coach Thad Matta. They argue Matta's reluctance to play more than five or six guys on any given night leads to tired legs come tournament time. Matta has insisted that until his guys learn to play defense, they won't see the court. Critics then wonder why Deshaun Thomas played so many minutes last season when defense didn't seem to be a word in his vocabulary.

Then there are the Matta apologists, who would point to his overall record, consecutive 20 win seasons,  number of Big Ten Championships, and the fact that he has taken his team to two final four appearances in eight seasons, something more than 75% of all NCAA Division I head coaches cannot claim.

Yet both Mike Krzysewski (sp) and Roy Williams could say the same thing. So what makes them elite coaches? That's right, they both have won multiple national championships.

So we again come to the question, why does Matta's Buckeyes fall short year after year?

Maybe a look at last year's champions, the Kentucky Wildcats, could provide some clues. While personally I can't stand head coach John Calipari( or Cal as he is often referred to) I have to give him credit. Not only did he assemble a group of 19 and 20 year olds that could possibly beat the Charlotte Bobcats, he also got them to believe in the good of the team before individual glory.

That in itself should be considered a coup for Cal, more so especially given the fact Kentucky is assumed to be a one year farm system for the NBA. Coincidentally, folks who believe that UK only recruits athletes with questionable academic backgrounds might be surprised to learn of the story of Brandon Knight, former Wildcat point guard who only played one season for Calipari. I have it on good authority from someone who scouted Knight in high school that he had the grades to play anywhere in the nation. Yet at the end of the day he chose to call Lexington, Kentucky his home for a year. Not that there is anything wrong with UK academically; but it certainly doesn't carry the reputation of a Duke or North Carolina.

But I digress. The point is that Kentucky did not win on talent alone; each team member had to sacrifice a little something of himself along the way.

I think that is a key point because it is why I believe Thad Matta's Buckeyes' do not have a championship. In recent years, Ohio State like Kentucky, has had its share of players who have only stuck around for a season or two before moving along to the NBA. Most of them, like Greg Oden, Mike Conley, Jared Sullinger, etc, have bought into the concept of team first.

But I believe Matta's greatest failure to date may be that he cannot convince all of his players to buy into the 'team first' philosophy. Take the example of former Buckeyes center BJ Mullens, for instance. It was clear that Mullens already had one eye on the NBA even before the Big Ten Tournament rolled around during his freshman season. Matta tried to bench him in an effort to convince Mullens he wasn't ready for the pros, but, ultimately, that was a lesson BJ would have to learn on his own.

Going further back, we can also look at the story of Daequan Cook. Part of the 'Thad Five' recruiting class that included Mike Conley, Greg Oden, Dave Lighty, and Othello Hunter, Cook was considered a lottery pick even before lacing them up for the Buckeyes. Cook would see signficant playing time at the beginning of the 2007 season; ultimately Matta relegated him to a reserve role after he realized the Dayton native wasn't going to play ball.

Finally, let's consider the plight of sophomore swing guard Laquinton Ross last season. Ross, who wouldn't join the team until mid season due to academic issues, was touted as one of the top recruits in the nation out of high school. The hype surrounding this kid was almost surreal, with former OSU point guard Scoonie Penn  calling him 'the best Buckeye on the court, hands down.' Naturally, all the press would go to Ross' head, leading him to issue a tweet whining for more playing time. After a conversation with the coach, Ross would delete the tweet, but by then the damage was done. From that point on the only playing time the freshman would see was at the end of a blowout.

All of this behavior would seem more befitting of Kentucky than Ohio State. Yet when the NBA collective bargaining agreement states amateur athletes must spend one year in college before entering the draft, even the Buckeyes can find it hard to avoid such players. Unfortunately for Thad Matta, until he can convince some of these guys that 'the present' is more important than 'their future', a championship may elude Ohio State.